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Nowadays, we use different types of oil – for cooking, maintenance of vehicles, and for other things. But where did this really start? Who discovered oil?
A Part of Human History
Ever since the start of recorded history, it was known that oil was already part of man’s existence. Earliest records point to about two hundred million years in the past before the dinosaurs roamed the lands. But there were no actual records of the first person or group who discovered oil.
Some sources of oil come from animal fat. That is why no one is sure whether the oils used during ancient times actually refer to animal fat or the ones that can be found under the ground.
Ancient Writings
Early Greek writings show how oil was already a necessity. It was used to set fire to the fleets of enemies. Its thicker version, named as “Pitch,”was also used as a waterproof blocker for Noah’s ark and the basket where the baby Moses was said to have been placed. Also, oil was used by American Indians...

Though today it is one of the most common metals in the world, there was a time when aluminum was actually one of the rarest and most precious. It took the scientists who discovered aluminum years of experimentation before they succeeded in refining this elusive element.
Aluminum originates from the compound “alum,” given that name by French chemist and politician Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau in 1761. From as far back as 1787, scientists had hypothesized the existence of an unknown base metal in alum. While not quite the man who discovered aluminum, British chemist and inventor Sir Humphry Davy, can be credited for naming it (first as “alumium” before being given its current designation) in 1808.
It was in 1825 when a Danish chemist and physicist named Hans Christian Oersted developed a way of extracting small amounts of aluminum from alum by having anhydrous aluminum chloride react with potassium amalgam to produce a chunk of metal with properties similar to those of tin. German...

Introduction
Silver is a precious metal with many uses. It is used to in photography, dentistry, jewelry, utensils and tableware, currency, and optics. No one knows who discovered silver first. Like gold, it is one of the oldest elements known to mankind.
History and Early Uses of Silver
Humans have been mining silver for many thousands of years. Archeologists have found slag near the Aegean Sea dating back to 4000 BC. Silver is rarely found unmixed with other elements, so mining for it was difficult. The metal was often mixed with lead, which is poisonous. Many silver and lead miners died from lead poisoning in a few years’ time. Because of this, mining for these metals was forced labor, that is, slave labor.
Silver has played an important role in shaping economies. In about 500 BC, the Athenian people discovered a silver mine in Laurion nearby. With this treasure they enriched their city and built a powerful navy. A rival city, Sparta, had its own silver mine. Carthage overran the area...

Considered as one of the most abundant elements in our body, magnesium is an alkaline earth metal that plays an essential role in the functioning of biological polyphosphate compounds such as DNA, ATP and RNA. This element is also important to plant growth because it is the chlorophyll’s center. Aside from these, the element has other medical, agricultural and industrial uses. To know more about this element, it is best to start with the history of the discovery of magnesium.
Historical Background
Who discovered magnesium? Based on records, the metal was extracted and discovered in 1808 in England by Sir Humphry Davy. He extracted the element from the mixture of mercury oxide and magnesia with the use of electrolysis. Davy named the element magnium, however, it was later on called magnesium by other scientists. Even if Davy was credited for the discovery of the alkaline earth metal, Epsom salt, a compound form of the element was already used by a farmer in the country to heal rashes as...

Mercury, be it the element or the planet, is quite elusive when it comes to its discoverer. But at least, as far as who discovered mercury the element is concerned, there’s a name worth mentioning.
The First Unnamed Discoverers
The Babylonians, among the first people groups of early civilization, is credited to be the first to put on record the use of the element mercury. This was some 3000 years ago when it was mixed freely with other products. It was then sometimes added in creams and ointments in dangerous proportions because it was not yet known then as a chemical element. At times poisoning was the result. The discovery of mercury as an element was in the 18th century.
Incidentally, at about the same time, also 3000 years ago, the Sumerians discovered the planet Mercury. Like the Babylonians who discovered mercury and put in many records but not as an element, the Sumerians recorded the planet mercury quite a lot. It could be said that both element and planet had probably started...